Kirsten and Mark

Our ward here has an annual breakfast and Easter egg hunt at a member’s house. The kids had a great time!

Kids waiting while the eggs were hidden they explored the front garden.

Kaia loved finding the eggs!

And putting them in her basket

and moving on to the next one.

Britton was practically a pro.

It was a bit easy for him…but he liked it.

She loves following him. Sometimes they make a good team.

Her "smile"

Then she discovered what was inside and it was all over!

Decorating the eggs.

Britton picked a tie dye kit. They were a little more complicated than I thought they’d be. So, we mostly just dyed them regular…but Brit liked using the dropper. The finished picture is missing =( But trust me, they looked cool.

We spent a lot of time telling Britton, and Kaia, about the real Easter story and didn’t emphasize the bunny, but they did enjoy their baskets and egg hunt.

Heading to find their loot.

Britton with his basket. There were a lot of activities to keep him occupied at church. Plus a plant, bubbles and of course, some candy.

Kaia found her favorite thing right off. Love that face!

She quickly found the eggs…and their contents.

B found most of the eggs, but we had to help him find the rest. He had fun with it though.

Easter outfits. I was so excited about K’s dress, and B looks like a little super star. Love his fun personality.

So grateful for the Savior and the atonement. But also for the resurrection. He made it possible for me to live again, and to be with my family again. And I love these guys! Couldn’t imagine being with out them.

Where has the time gone? I can hardly believe it’s been that long since my little guy arrived. I just love him so much. He’s such a sweet boy who cracks us up all the time.

He’s still little–barely 30 lbs and 37 inches. His foot is still a 7! His favorite color is usually green and he loves cheese, pb& j sandwiches and apples.

He likes to read. Right now his favorites are the Magic Tree House, but he’s still not confident enough to read them himself, so they’re our read together books. He reads everything whenever we’re out–signs, papers, menus, etc.

He’s kicking butt in his swimming class. In just a couple of months he’s gone from hating to put his face in the water to swimming with his arms outstretched and kicking about 10-15 feet with his face down. He loves going every week.

Right now he’s really into his friends. He’s made some good ones at school that he loves to play with. Though, he is now “out in the world” and has become more energetic, more into guns and shooting–not real ones, but you know how little boys can make ANYTHING into a gun. Well, he does. Or tries to anyway. It’s so not ok here.

We’re not sure what it is about him, but he’s a popular little guy. He’s got a few girls who are just crazy about him. One of them is pretty mature and imaginative and they’ve “gotten married” and “gone on a honeymoon” before. Luckily Britton thinks it’s when you go far away on a trip looking for honey to eat. Whew. He’s a hit with the boys too.  We love him and think he’s great and all, but don’t know why everyone else does so much. But it’s kind of always been this way. Maybe he just has some X factor.

Which  leads me into his other personality traits lately–performing, singing and being a total character. He can sing “Baby” by Justin Bieber all the way through without music, as well as “Dynomite” by Taio Cruz. He likes to make things up too and just sing. Plus, his memory is amazing! He remembers things that happened forever ago, and memorizes so many things.We’re thinking of getting him back with an agent since it seems to be a talent of his.

He loves Angry Birds, his cars and learning things. He wanted a calendar, so we made one with cool extras. He loves doing it every day and is upset if we forget.

He is sometimes a great brother to Kaia and share with her and play with her, but other times not so much. She loves to do everything he does and likes to take his toys. So, I get why he doesn’t love it. But, he still tries.

Apparently he likes to make sure that everything runs smoothly in primary. He’s a Sunbeam now and so they sit on the front row. Since he can read, he knows when things aren’t read the way they’re printed and lets them know. He also thought that Noah’s Ark was like the Boston Tea Party (we watched a cartoon about it a couple of months ago. I didn’t think he was paying attention at all.) It’s fun hearing the latest about him every week.

We love his fun personality and are so happy to have him in our family.

He was very adamant. It started with the cake. When I asked him what he wanted for his party he just mentioned the cake. Or, cakes. It was “an angry birds cake, an angry birds Rio cake and a rainforest cake.” I wasn’t too keen on that idea. Like, really? So, finally after lots of asking he narrowed it down to an Angry Birds Rio cake.

That became the theme to his party. I had a lot of fun making the invites and preparing the activities.

I got the idea for these invitations online, but mostly created the whole thing myself. I was really happy with how they turned out.

The Birthday Banner.

Making bird feeders. They had fun with this one.

They turned out really cute.

Next we made Angry Birds masks. They glued and put them together mostly on their own.

So cute! I love how well they turned out. They liked wearing them too.

Then we played pin the tail on the Angry Bird. Mark made a poster of the red one and the kids took turns putting his tail on. Almost all of them peeked–or tried to–when they got close. But, what do you expect from 4-year-olds.

For “snack” I tried to tie it into the Rio theme as well, so I made traditional Brazilian foods of garlic/onion rice and cheese buns. Then added black beans, tropical fruit (mango, papaya, pineapple) and oranges and strawberries.

It seemed to be a hit!

The kids were having so much fun together and got along really well. I left the guest list up to Britton. He got to invite or not invite whomever he wanted. Unfortunately two friends on the list live far away, but we’ll get together in a couple of weeks!

They kept asking when it would be present time, so we did that after the food. I’m all about opening presents at parties. The kids are so excited to see their friend open what they picked out for them, and it also teaches them important life lessons–waiting your turn, being polite, being gracious etc.

So, whomever brought the present he was opening got to sit by him and be in a picture together. Pics weren’t working out so well–apparently the lens got a smudge, but here’s what we’ve got.

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He said “this song makes me happy” when listening to this. It’s the They Might Be Giants 123s

He’s fascinated with these cars, Automoblox. They’re fully interchangeable. He’s having lots of fun with them.

It’s a Hot Wheels Splash toy for the bath tub. We usually have to drag him in there. After the party he said, “mom, I’m dirty. I need a bath.” Because he wanted to play. Later that night we could barely get him out!

He’s in love with this thing. First, it’s Cars, second, it’s a plane. LOVE.

He loved ALL of the things he got. He really has great gift picking friends.

We sang Happy Birthday and he blew out the candles. It was cute. This is the  Angry Birds Rio Cake. The beach, city and rainforest. With some of the birds. The cake was Chocolate like he wanted–and it turned out soooo good! I got it here. We also used Marshmallow Fondant for the birds and to cover the cake.

I did the trees, fruit and frosting. Mark made all the birds and buildings. Good team effort.

Britton loved it and everyone was really impressed. And, even more impressive is the kids actually ate it!

These were the treat bags I made. They were for them to put their goodies they made, and also had a maraca and a string of beads for Rio’s Carnival.

I found the Angry Birds ribbon at the craft store and was excited about it!

Britton had a lot of fun with his friends, and they seemed to have a great time too. I’m so glad it turned out and everything went practically perfectly.

Happy 4th Birthday Britton! We love you!

The next day we went to a really fun park that had a carousel, train and cool playground.

Jared and the kids

Getting ready for the carousel

Such good friends

They loved it. Kaia so much that she cried when it was time to get off. I had to pull her away. so sad.

Getting ready for the train ride.

First swing. She LOVED it!

He liked this fun chair swing too, but not too high.

It was a fun day, but really windy and cold.

That night Jared watched the kids for us so we could have a girls night out. I haven’t done that in FOREVER and it was so great! We had Thai and saw The Vow. So nice to just talk and have fun like old times.

On Sunday we went to church then to the gardens on campus. They were pretty, but since it’s still winter, I’m sure it’ll be gorgeous in the spring and summer.

Kaia and Jared

B looking weird by the fountain

Standing on a...um, stone thing

K girl hangin' out

The kids and me

The girls looked so much alike–with the exact same shade of hair and being similar in size…though K the taller and slimmer of the two, we thought it was funny when we accidentally dressed them both in ballerina jammies one night.

They had so much fun playing together, running around and hanging out.

So, on our 2nd to last day–and last–I did something I’ve never done before thanks to Kristie’s awesome tutoring and encouragement–I sewed on a sewing machine. Other than a completely straight line. It’s pretty amazing.

We went to the fabric store and picked out some cute things. My first project was a pair of leggings for Kaia. They turned out so cute! She wears them all the time.

This is the 2nd: a super awesome Easter dress that looks sooooo cute!

I did the whole thing, except the sleeves. It was taking forever and I kept messing them up. But, other than that it was all me. It was good that Kristie did one at the same time so she could go first and show me what to do.

I’m thrilled with the result and new-found confidence around a sewing machine.

We had an amazing week and were all so sad to have to leave. Kaia and Alia had become little best friends, wanting to do the same things all the time. K even wanted to nap when Alia did. Silly girls.

Thanks friends! Please come visit us soon!

Well, maybe not so much lost as far away and inaccessible for play time. It’s been 2 years since I’ve seen my friend Kristie and nearly 3 since we saw her husband Jared. They were our great friends in LA but they moved to North Carolina for grad school.

Thanks to all the traveling we did for All My Children we had a free flight that needed to be used, so Mark suggested the kids and I make a trip out to see them. Especially since they were in Denver for Christmas–and because of our awesome move, we didn’t get to see them then.

Let me tell you–it was soooo much fun! We had a great trip and all of us are really sad they’re so far away. Especially Kaia. She and their daughter Alia were best friends all week.

The first day we just relaxed and hung around the house since we’d gotten in really late the night before, and had a 3 hour time difference to deal with. Plus, the kids got to know each other.

The next day we went to a really fun science/discovery center.

Britton really liked looking at the bugs under the microscope.

In the butterfly house the kids really liked seeing all of them fly around.

A man was working with the chrysalises and we could see them in different stages. Some had just emerged. It was so pretty. B liked seeing which butterflies he could find that were on the guide sheet.

little friends

B with his fossil he dug up by himself. The dirt is brought in from somewhere that has a lot of fossils, so it was pretty cool.

Riding a dinosaur

He had a chance to bang some big drums and play some little pipes.

Kaia really liked it too. She made lots of noise.

Later that night we had a party for Alia’s birthday. We whipped up a rainbow theme and some yummy food.

Gado, Gado, an Indian dish with colorful veggies, fruit, rainbow decorated cupcakes and rainbow swirl cookies.

And a really cute birthday girl.

We had some friends over this afternoon to help us make and decorate our Valentine cookies. We haven’t had that in a long time–Miss you Kristie and Paige/Mav!

They had lots of fun with the pounding and rolling, cutting and decorating. I was a little slow and didn’t get any till near the end.

Kaia loved the frosting, Brit did pretty good by himself too.

wiping her messy face

Some of the finished product.

Thanks friends!

The whole trip we talked to Britton about going to a science museum. But, because of  “the sickness” we didn’t end up going anywhere until the day before we left. I figured we’d take the train to the Museum of Natural History, but we ended up at the Maryland Science Center in Baltimore.

I didn’t get any pictures, inside, but the kids had so much fun! Unfortunately we got there pretty late so we didn’t have a lot of time; but thanks to our membership at the Denver museum, we got in free. So, we didn’t mind too much.

Inner Harbor in Baltimore. It was soooo cold!

Fun by the water

Shoulder time…

We looked around the shops there and then ate dinner at the Cheesecake Factory since we couldn’t decide what kind of food to eat. I was glad that we got there. I was afraid we were going to miss out on it. Britton would’ve been so disappointed.

As we drove home we stopped by the temple to see the lights–we hadn’t even done that yet. It was soooo pretty. They really do an amazing job there. I swear, every branch is covered in lights. And, with the temple seeming to float over the freeway, and how it glows at night is so beautiful. Since I didn’t get any pics of my own, check these out: DC Temple Lights

We hurried through–didn’t even get out–because we were meeting Mark’s mom to see some other lights closer to their house. But, we got there just as it was closed. My fault. I thought it was a different day than it was and so I thought we had another hour! Britton didn’t care though, because he just liked seeing all the lights on the houses as we drove by.

I love Christmas!

We flew out to DC the Thursday before Christmas and had a nice, relaxing week there. There was some sickness going around, but we managed to have some fun visits.

My friend Teresa came over on Friday and we had a great visit. We haven’t seen her since just before Brit turned 2, so it’s been a while.

Thanks for coming over!

Then, Mark’s Dad and his wife were on their way back to Dallas from Turkey and had a lay over in DC. So, we went to the airport to see them. We had a nice dinner and Britton enjoyed talking their ears off. Kaia even warmed up at the end.

Good to see you guys!

On our last day we made it out to see my uncle Billy, his wife Heather and their kids. They just moved into a new place and we were excited to check it out. It was really fun seeing them. We haven’t seen them since that cute little blond guy was a baby, so they’ve all grown up a lot! Britton had so much fun with his cousins, running around and playing. And we adults were able to catch up for a while too. Unfortunately we had to get back and pack before our flight.

You should come out here…

And, of course their adorable new little cousin G. He was sick most of the week, but we really had fun getting to meet him and play a little bit.

It’s pretty sad that we didn’t get any pictures with Grandma Karen, or Aunt Sara or Uncle Andrew. Who is apparently one of his new favorite people. He keeps talking about how he’s a Silly Goose and Uncle Andrew calls him.

It was so much fun getting to see everyone. It one of our favorite parts of going to DC!

This Season Britton’s favorite book to read was ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas. We have a few different versions…well, words are the same, but pictures/format is different. He was really excited about getting a visit like that this year.

Because some family members were sick, we had a bit of a different lead up to Christmas this year. We did get to make the traditional Gingerbread Houses–with a disgusting amount of candy. But, not everyone was there to participate. And, I know pictures were taken, but I don’t have them. They did look pretty cool. We do two–boys and girls. The guys usually have crazy things like army people or big snakes in the front yard. The girl ones are a bit more traditional, but very cute none the less.

We thought that we’d been spoiled during our “fake Christmas” but things were a little crazy here too.

First wake up snuggle…

Traditional “before presents” picture

Opening stockings. Some good stuff!

So yummy! Kaia loved the candy…of course

Britton got a new laptop from aunt Sara and Uncle Andrew.

“Santa” brought him a Crash Course. It goes great with all of the Hot Wheels he also got this year.

Aw, Kaia loved her dolly!

Santa even made a visit. Isn’t he cute!

After all the excitement we hurried off to church. It was nice being able to go this year. It seems that we should have meetings every year on Christmas. I really liked having the spiritual message on Christmas day. The kids even did well and looked sooo cute!

For the rest of the day I made dinner and the kids played with their toys. It was a very Merry Christmas! I hope all of you had one too.

To borrow the name from my friend Natalie, we had ourselves a “fake Christmas” before we left for DC. We definitely wanted to save space by not bringing any presents from “us” on the trip, but thought they may like a thing or two they were getting.

It really turned out well.

In their “Christmas Eve” jammies from Grammie, waiting for the fun to begin.

Most asked for: Thomas and Friends

A rock collection from Gigi and Grandpapa

Plus, he loved his boots!

Paper Jams–Drums. He’s a pretty good little rocker.

Cowgirl in training

She's a shoe girl. Oh My!

The destruction. People were way too generous!

I just like this one …

When I asked Britton what he wanted to get for Kaia he said a pink car. Never changed his mind. This one even goes on its own! She LOVES it!

It was a fun night, and I’m glad we did it before our trip instead of after. Happy Fake Christmas!